Centralized web-based software solutions for search engine optimization

ABSTRACT

A system and method for modifying a parameter of a website in order to optimize an organic listing of the website at one or more search engines is described. Several embodiments include methods and systems for generating scored representations based upon different portions of data associated with a website, and then combining the scored representations to achieve a result. The result indicates a feature of the website that may be modified in order to optimize the organic ranking of the website at one or more search engines.

PRIORITY

The present application claims priority to U.S. provisional applicationNo. 60/868,702, entitled “Centralized Web-Based Software Solution forSearch Engine Optimization,” filed on Dec. 5, 2006.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application relates to and incorporates by reference ProvisionalApplication No. 60/778,594, entitled “System and Method for ManagingNetwork-Based Advertising Conducted by Channel Partners of anEnterprise,” filed on Mar. 1, 2006, Provisional Application No.60/823,615, entitled, “System and Method for Aggregating OnlineAdvertising Data and Providing Advertiser Services,” filed on Aug. 25,2006, Provisional Application No. 60/868,705, entitled “System andMethod for Measuring the Effectiveness of an Online AdvertisementCampaign,” filed on Dec. 5, 2006, Provisional Application No.60/868,702, entitled “Centralized Web-Based Software Solution for SearchEngine Optimization,” filed on Dec. 5, 2006.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to, among other things, methods and systems foroptimization of websites (“sites”) with respect to organic searchresults generated by search engines in response to user queries. Inparticular, but not by way of limitation, aspects of the inventionpertain to one or more centralized web-based software solutions thatevaluate sites and identify features of those sites that may beoptimized.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the growth of search engines, business entities (e.g., companies)are dedicating greater portions of their marketing budgets to searchengine optimization (SEO) initiatives. Typically, SEO initiatives aredriven by “organic” search results. In this regard, the organic listingof a website (“site”) pertains to the relative ranking of that site inthe algorithmic results generated by a particular search engine on thebasis of particular keywords. This contrasts with sponsored or paidsearch results which are often listed proximate such organic searchresults and which list sites that have compensated the operator of thesearch engine for such listing. For various strategic reasons, abusiness entity may drive content of a site it owns or operates so thatthe site appears in organic search results created by one or more searchengines. With respect to measuring the effectiveness of an organic SEOinitiative, previously-known technology does not enable anenterprise-scale business entity (e.g., an enterprise-scale businessentity) to measure the effectiveness of organic search resultsassociated with various search engines. Furthermore, previously-knowntechnology does not effectively allow a business entity to audit itssite(s) in an automated fashion using SEO principles across many sitesand across many search engines in a way that reflects enterprise-scalehierarchies of the business entity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Exemplary embodiments of the invention that are shown in the drawingsare summarized below. These and other embodiments are more fullydescribed in the Detailed Description section. It is to be understood,however, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the formsdescribed in this Summary of the Invention or in the DetailedDescription. One skilled in the art can recognize that there arenumerous modifications, equivalents and alternative constructions thatfall within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in theclaims.

In one aspect, the invention provides a system and method for modifyingone or more features of a website in order to optimize the website inaccordance with an organic listing of the website at one or more searchengines. The inventive systems and methods include using scoredrepresentations to represent different portions of data associated witha website. Such data may include, for example, data related to theconstruction of the website and/or data related to the traffic of one ormore visitors to the website. The scored representations may be combinedwith each other (e.g., by way of mathematical operations, such asaddition, subtraction, multiplication, division, weighting andaveraging) to achieve a result that indicates a feature of the websitethat may be modified to optimize a ranking of the website with respectto the organic listing of the website at one or more search engines.

In one embodiment, for example, the scored representations may becombined by generating a respective weight for each of the scoredrepresentations, and then applying the respective weights to theirrespective scored representations. Upon applying the respective weights,the weighted scored representations may be summed to achieve anintermediate result, which is then divided by a sum of the respectiveweights to achieve the result that may be used to optimize a ranking ofthe website with respect to the organic listing of the website at one ormore search engines.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various objects and advantages and a more complete understanding of theinvention are apparent and more readily appreciated by reference to thefollowing Detailed Description and to the appended claims when taken inconjunction with the accompanying Drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram depicting a typical network system foranalyzing search engine optimization effectiveness of a website;

FIG. 2 illustrates one implementation of a search engine optimizationanalysis system;

FIG. 3 depicts a process flow diagram illustrating steps taken by asoftware solution in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a first user interface that may be presented to auser when representing client-pertinent metrics developed during linearand/or non-linear combinations in accordance with certain aspects of theinvention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a second user interface that may be presented to auser when representing client-pertinent metrics developed during linearand/or non-linear combinations in accordance with certain aspects of theinvention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a third user interface that may be presented to auser when representing client-pertinent metrics developed during linearand/or non-linear combinations in accordance with certain aspects of theinvention; and

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram depicting an alternative system foranalyzing search engine optimization effectiveness of a website.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMIENTS OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to, among other things, methods and systems foroptimization of websites (“sites”) to enhance organic search resultsgenerated by search engines in response to user queries. Severalembodiments of the invention pertain to one or more centralizedweb-based software solutions that evaluate the effectiveness of searchengine optimization (SEO) with respect to sites of a business entity.More specifically, embodiments of the software solutions may evaluateadherence to SEO best practices, track organic rankings of a site withrespect to one or more search engines, determine one or more particularimprovements for enhancing the organic rankings of the site, implementthe one or more particular improvements, and/or develop one or morereports for display on a user interface.

Aspects of the invention are designed to operate on computer systems,servers, and/or other like devices. While the details of embodiments ofthe invention may vary and still be within the scope of the claimedinvention, FIG. 1 shows a block diagram depicting a typical networksystem 100 for analyzing SEO effectiveness of a site in accordance withthe invention. The network system 100 is only one example of a suitablecomputing environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation asto the scope of use or functionality of the invention. Neither shouldthe network system 100 be interpreted as having any dependency orrequirement relating to any one or combination of components illustratedin the exemplary network system 100.

Aspects of the invention may be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer or server. Generally, program modules includeroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and the likethat perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotecomputer storage media including memory storage devices.

As is shown, the network system 100 includes a communications network110, such as the Internet or a private network, capable of providingcommunication between devices at search engine(s) 120,advertiser/client(s) 130, an SEO analysis system 140, and third partyuser(s) 150 described hereinafter. The devices of FIG. 1 communicatewith each other via any number of methods known in the art, includingwired and wireless communication pathways.

As shown in FIG. 1, a search engine 120 is accessible by a third partyuser 150, a client 130, and by the analysis system 140. The third partyuser 150 may utilize any number of computing devices that are configuredto retrieve information from the World Wide Web (“WWW”), such as acomputer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cell phone, a television(TV), and other network communications-enabled devices. The client 130is typically a business entity with one or more websites that are to beindexed by a search engine 120 or a social network. The analysis system140 operates one or more servers 141 capable of Internet-basedcommunication with the search engine 120 and the client 130. As isdiscussed below, the modeling system 140 enables the client 130 to modelthe effectiveness of an SEO initiative with respect to other SEOinitiatives of the client 130 or entities other than the clients 130. Itis a feature of embodiments of the invention that these models enablethe client 130 to quickly identify marketing inefficiencies and/oropportunities.

As those skilled in the art will appreciate, various intermediarynetwork routing and other elements between the communication network 110and the devices depicted in FIG. 1 have been omitted for the sake ofsimplicity. Such intermediary elements may include, for example, thepublic-switched telephone network (PSTN), gateways or other serverdevices, and other network infrastructure provided by Internet serviceproviders (ISPs).

Attention is now drawn to FIG. 2, which depicts one implementation ofthe analysis system 140. As is shown, the analysis system 140 mayinclude, but not by way of limitation, a processor 241 coupled to ROM242, the database 143, a network connection 244, and memory 245 (e.g.,random access memory (RAM)).

The database 143 is described herein in several implementations as harddisk drive for convenience, but this is certainly not required, and oneof ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other storage media maybe utilized without departing from the scope of the invention. Inaddition, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that thedatabase 143, which is depicted for convenience as a single storagedevice, may be realized by multiple (e.g., distributed) storage devices.

As shown, a software solution 290 includes a statistic generator module291, a report generator module 292, and a user interface (“UI”) module293, all of which are implemented in software and are executed from thememory 244 by the processor 241. The solution 290 can be configured tooperate on personal computers (e.g., handheld, notebook or desktop),servers or any device capable of processing instructions embodied inexecutable code. Moreover, one of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that alternative embodiments, which implement one or morecomponents of the invention in hardware, are well within the scope ofthe invention. Each module 291-293 is associated with one or morefunctions of the invention describe herein.

Basic Operation of the Software Solution

In general terms, the solution 290 analyzes the construction of awebsite (“site”) for any possible aspect of that site's constructionthat would affect the site's organic ranking with respect to one or moresearch engines. The solution 290 may make recommendations regardingimprovements with respect to the site's construction. For example, thesolution 290 may make recommendations based on the size of one or morewebpages (“pages”) belonging to a site. Alternative recommendations maypertain to whether keywords are embedded in a page's title, meta contentand/or headers. The solution 290 may also make recommendations based ontraffic referrals from search engines or traffic-related data fromdirectories and media outlets with respect to the organic ranking of asite. Media outlets may include data feeds, results from an API call andimports of files received as reports offline (i.e., not over theInternet) that pertain to Internet traffic patterns and the like. One ofskill in the art will appreciate alternative recommendations.

The modules 291-293 operate in concert with each other to performcertain functions of the solution 290. By way of example, FIG. 3 depictsa process flow diagram 300 illustrating steps taken by the solution 290in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. As shown in step310, the UI module 293 may receive filtering and configurationparameters from a user (e.g., a system administrator, the client 130,etc.). The UI module 293, in step 320, may export those parameters tothe data retrieval module 291 and/or the reports module 292. Theparameters may pertain to system administration parameters that apply togeneral implementations of the solution 290 (e.g., pre-configured datacollection) or to user parameters that apply to specific implementationsof the solution 290 (e.g., real-time data collection). The dataretrieval module 291, in step 330, uses the parameters to gatherspecific data defined at least in part by the parameters. The dataretrieval module 291 may gather data from one or more search enginefiles, one or more content source files (e.g., video, image, documentand various other non-html files), one or more web files associated withthe client(s) 130, and/or one or more web analytics system files. Upongathering data, the data retrieval module 291, in step 340, stores thedata in the database 143. The reports module 292, in step 350, accessesthe database 143 to retrieve data associated with the parameters, andthen, in step 360, produces one or more types of reports. In step 370,the generated reports are exported to the UI module 293, which displaysone or more visual representations of the reports to the user.

Data Retrieval Module

The data retrieval module 291 gathers data for use by the reports module292 in generating one or more reports that are visually represented viathe UI module 293. The data may be gathered from any number of sources,including by way of example, one or more search engines (e.g., thesearch engines 120), one or more content sources (e.g., one or morevideos, images and/or documents such as .pdf, .doc, and .xls files,among others)), one or more sites associated with the client(s) 130,and/or one or more web analytics systems.

For example, the data collected by the data retrieval module 291 mayinclude traffic levels from one or more search engines to one or morepages of one or more sites. Collected data may also include a number ofpages for one or more sites that are indexed by one or more searchengines or social networks, and whether particular keywords exist in theindexing. The data retrieval module 291 may also collect data associatedwith an indexed page's category, title, description, and URL withrespect to the one or more search engines or social networks.Alternatively or additionally, data pertaining to whether one or morekeywords are found in a page's title, meta content and/or headers may becollected. Collected data may also include a total number of pages forone or more sites, and whether a sitemap link exists on the home page(s)of one or more sites.

The data retrieval module 291 may alternatively or additionally collectpage-level data, including URL character length, page size, keyworddensity, existence of flash navigation, existence of JavaScriptnavigation, existence of page errors, and existence of header tags,among others. One of skill in the art will recognize that the dataretrieval module 291 may collect data specific to any type of page,including preferred landing pages.

Additional data collected by the data retrieval module 291 may includerankings or a number of ranked positions of one or more pages or siteswith respect to one or more organic search engine results that are basedon one or more search terms (e.g., one or more keywords) during one ormore time periods.

One of skill in the art will appreciate alternative forms of data withinboth the scope and spirit of the invention that the data retrievalmodule 291 may gather, including additional web analytics data and/ordata accessible via application programming interfaces (APIs) associatedwith search engines.

Report Generator Module

Attention is drawn to the reports module 292 of FIG. 2, which functionsto receive parameters from the UI module 293, retrieve data from thedatabase 143, generate one or more reports based on the parameters andthe retrieved data, and then send the generated reports to the UI module293. The generation of reports may be automated (e.g., the generation ofreports occurs at specified time intervals). When generating thereports, the reports module 292 may use one or more linear and/ornon-linear combinations involving one or more scored representations toachieve quantifiable metrics pertinent to the client 130.

A combination may include, by way of example, a mathematical operationsuch as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, weighting, andaveraging, among others.

A scored representation may include, but not by way of limitation, analphanumeric representation of data collected by the data retrievalmodule 291 (e.g., 0, 1, 2, . . . , n and a, b, c, . . . z) and/or analphanumeric representation of a resultant value derived from one ormore linear/non-linear combinations.

A quantifiable metric may be, for example, indicative of a parameter orfeature of a site that may be modified to optimize the site with respectto an organic ranking of the site at a search engine. By way of example,in one embodiment a feature may reflect an inefficient or an unrealizeduse of a keyword with respect of the site's paid or organic ranking insearch engine results. In another embodiment, a feature may reflect anundesired visitor traffic pattern on the site following a selection ofthe site by the visitor from a listing of search results at a searchengine. In yet another embodiment, a feature may reflect the existenceof any number of aspects relating to a site, includingaccessibility-related aspects, site construction-related aspects, and/orsearch engine-related aspects. For example, accessibility-relatedaspects may reflect whether a sitemap exists on the site's homepageand/or whether the site exists in a Yahoo! and/or DMOZ (i.e., the OpenDirectory Project) directory. Site construction-related aspects mayreflect exceeded page sizes, exceeded URL character lengths, lack offlash navigation, lack of header tags, lack of a keyword in header tags,lack of a keyword is a page title, and/or lack of a keyword in page metacontent. Search engine-related aspects may reflect a ranking of a siteor pages of the site in organic and/or paid search results of one ormore search engines. One of skill in the art will appreciate variousother features that may be indicated using configurable metrics,including any of the ‘Collected Data’ described below with respect toTable 1.

As stated above, the reports module 292 may employ computations that areconfigurable in terms of scored representations and combinations. Forexample, a first scored representation may be weighted, a second scoredrepresentation may be weighted, the resultant weighted scoredrepresentations may be summed to achieve a summed result, and the summedresult may be divided by a sum of the weights. In such a case, thereports module 292 employs four combinations: 1) the weighting of thefirst scored representation, 2) the weighting of the second scoredrepresentation, 3) the summing of the two weighted scoredrepresentations, and 4) the dividing of the summed weighted scoredrepresentations by the sum of the weights. One of skill in the art willappreciate that any number of combinations of any number of scoredrepresentations may be used to quantify metrics pertinent to the client130. By way of example, Table 1 displays a listing of data, scoredrepresentations of such data, and weights applied to the scoredrepresentations.

TABLE 1 Collected Data Scored Representations Weights whether a sitemaplink V₁ Existence: 1; No existence: 0 w₁ 5 exists on site's home pagewhether a site exists in a V₂ Existence: 1; No existence: 0 w₂ 4directory (e.g., Yahoo!) whether a site exists in a V₃ Existence: 1; Noexistence: 0 w₃ 4 directory (e.g., DMOZ) whether a site exists in a V₄Existence of both: 1; w₄ 4 if both exist, 2 directory (e.g., Yahoo!),and Existence of site only: 0.75; if only the site a keyword does ordoes not No existence of site: 0 exists exists in the description of thesite in the directory whether a site exists in a V₅ Existence of both:1; w₅ 4 if both exist, 2 directory (e.g., DMOZ), and Existence of siteonly: 0.75; if only the site a keyword does or does not No existence ofsite: 0 exists exists in the description of the site in the directorywhether HTML parseable or V₆ No existence of errors: 1 w₆ 5 if noerrors, 3 page access errors exist for a HTML error exists withoutaccess error: if HTML error particular page 0.5 exists without Existenceof access error: 0 access error whether the character length V₇ Does notexceed length: 1; w₇ of a particular page's URL Exceeds length: 0exceeds a reconfigurable length (e.g., 255 characters) whether the sizeof a V₈ page size <100K: 1; w₈ 1 if <100K, 3 if particular page fallswithin a page size of 100-200K: 0.5; 100-200K reconfigurable size rangepage size >200K: 0 (e.g., <100K, 100-200K, >200K) whether flashnavigation V₉ No flash: 1; w₉ 2 exists on a page and whether Flash &length exceeded: 1; the characters on the page Flash & length notexceeded: 0; exceed a reconfigurable number (e.g., 150 characters)whether a JavaScript (JS) V₁₀ Existence of JS link to external page orw₁₀ 2 link to a page external to a sitemapped page: 1; site or to a pageof the site No existence of above & existence of JS that is listed inthe sitemap link to non-sitemapped page: 0; exists for a particularpage, JS link percentage exceed: 0 or whether a JavaScript link to apage of the site that is not listed in the sitemap exists, or whether areconfigurable percentage of the site has JavaScript links whether H1header tags V₁₁ Existence: 1; No existence: 0 w₁₁ 5 exist on aparticular page whether H2 header tags V₁₂ Existence: 1; No existence: 0w₁₂ 4 exist on a particular page whether H3 header tags V₁₃ Existence:1; No existence: 0 w₁₃ 2 exist on a particular page whether a particularV₁₄ Existence: 1; No existence: 0 w₁₄ 5 keyword exists in the title of aparticular page whether a particular V₁₅ Existence: 1; No existence: 0w₁₅ 4 keyword exists in the meta content of a particular page whether aparticular V₁₆ Existence: 1; No existence: 0 w₁₆ 5 if H1, 4 if H2keyword exists in the H1-H3 and no H1, 2 if header of a particular pageonly H3 ranking of the top-ranked V₁₇ [1^(st)]: 1.0; [2^(nd)]: 0.917;[3^(rd)]: 0.833; [4^(th)]: w₁₇ 1 page for a particular 0.75; [5^(th)]:0.708; [6^(th)]: 0.667; [7^(th)]: keyword and for a particular 0.625;[8^(th)]: 0.583; [9^(th)]: 0.542; [10^(th)]: search engine (e.g.,Yahoo!, 0.5; [11^(th)]: 0.476; [12^(th)]: 0.452; [13^(th)]: MSN, Google)0.429; [14^(th)]: 0.405; [15^(th)]: 0.381; [16^(th)]: 0.357; [17^(th)]:0.333; [18^(th)]: 0.310; [19^(th)]: 0.286; [20^(th)]: 0.262; [21^(st)]:0.238; [22^(nd)]: 0.214; [23^(rd)]: 0.191; [24^(th)]: 0.167; [25^(th)]:0.143; [26^(th)]: 0.119; [27^(th)]: 0.095; [28^(th)]: 0.071; [29^(th)]:0.048; [30^(th)]: 0.024; [31^(st) and above]: 0.0 Check for existence oftitle V₁₈ Exists, is unique, and has keywords: 1; w₁₈ 5 tags, use ofkeywords in title Exists and has keywords: .66; Exists: tag, anduniqueness of title .33; tag across site. Doesn't exist: 0 Check forexistence of meta V₁₉ Exists and has keywords: 1; Exists: .5; w₁₉ 4tags, use of keywords in Doesn't Exist: 0 meta tags Check for existenceof body V₂₀ Exists and has content: 1; W₂₀ 3 tag and content in the bodyDoesn't exist and doesn't have content: 0 tag. Keyword density (KWD) V₂₁1 if KWD >=7%, .5 if KWD <7% and W₂₁ 5 score to check how many >=2% and0 if KWD <2% keywords are used in text vs. all words in text (withinconfigurable desired range). Keyword emphasis (KWE) V₂₂ 1 if KWE >25%,.5 if KWE <=25% and W₂₂ 3 score to check how many >10% and 0 if KWE<=10% times a keywords is emphasized in the website with bold type,italics, underscore, etc., versus the total number of times the keywordis used in the website, or versus other emphacized and/or non-emphacized words in the website (within configurable desired range).whether there are HTTP V₂₃ No errors: 1; Errors: 0 W₂₃ 5 errors whenaccessing the page/site whether there are session ids V₂₄ No sessionIDs: 1; Session IDs exist: 0 W₂₄ 3 in the URL of a page whether thereare dynamic V₂₅ No Dynamic Parameters: 1; Dynamic W₂₅ 2 (HTTP)parameters in the Parameters Exist: 0 URL of a site. Inbound linkanalysis for V₂₆ 1 if number of inbound links exists above W₂₆ 5 EDUdomains a configurable threshold equaling a number of acceptable inboundlinks from the EDU domain, 0 if not above threshold Inbound Linkanalysis for V₂₇ if number of inbound links exists above W₂₇ 5 GOVdomains a configurable threshold equaling a number of acceptable inboundlinks from the GOV domain, 0 if not above threshold Inbound linkanalysis for all V₂₈ 11 if number of inbound links exists W₂₈ 4 inboundlinks above a configurable threshold equaling a number of acceptableinbound links from all sources, 0 if not above threshold Inbound linkanalysis from V₂₉ 1 if number of inbound links exists above W₂₉ 4 socialnetworks (del.icio.us, a configurable threshold equaling a Digg, etc.)number of acceptable inbound links from the social network(s), 0 if notabove threshold Inbound link analysis from V₃₀ 1 if number of inboundlinks exists above W₃₀ 4 vertical search engines a configurablethreshold equaling a (Technorati, etc.) number of acceptable inboundlinks from the vertical search engine(s), 0 if not above thresholdInbound link analysis from V₃₁ 1 if number of inbound links exists aboveW₃₁ 4 wikis (Wikipedia, etc.) a configurable threshold equaling a numberof acceptable inbound links from the wiki(s), 0 if not above thresholdInbound link analysis from V₃₂ 1 if number of inbound links exists aboveW₃₂ 4 blogs a configurable threshold equaling a number of acceptableinbound links from the blog(s), 0 if not above threshold Internal linkanalysis - links V₃₃ 1 if exists and links with keyword as link W₃₃ 3between pages on site and text, .5 if exists, and 0 if no internal linkskeyword optimization for to a given page. internal links. whether thereare keywords V₃₄ No keywords: 0; keywords exist: 1 W₃₄ 4 in the URL of apage the number of directories a V₃₅ domain itself: 1; one directoryaway: .75; W₃₅ 2 page is from the domain two directories away: .5; threedirectories (e,g., http://www.domain.com/ away: .25; four or greaterdirectories first_directory/second₁₃ directory) away: 0.0

As shown in Table 1, scored representation V₁ represents whether asitemap link exists on the home page of a site. If a sitemap exists, ascored representation of “1” is used to represent V₁. Otherwise, if asitemap does not exist, a scored representation of “0” is used torepresent V₁. In either case, a weight w₁ (e.g., “5”) may be applied tothe scored representation.

The scored representations may be represented by any type of strength orgrading indicator (e.g., alphanumeric representations, color-coding).Each scored representation, as well as combinations of scoredrepresentations may be weighted with adjustable weights (e.g., rationalnumbers) configurable via the UI module 293.

By way of example, Table 2 presents a listing of combinations.

TABLE 2 Combinations C₁ [(V₁) * (w₁) + (V₄) * (w₄) + (V₅) *(w₅)]/[(w₁) + (w₄) + (w₅)] C₂ [(V₁₄) * (w₁₄) + (V₁₅) * (w₁₅) + (V₁₆) *(w₁₆)]/[(w₁₄) + (w₁₅) + (w₁₆)] C₃ Average of C₂ for selected keywords C₄[(V₆) * (w₆) + (V₇) * (w₇) + (V₈) * (w₈) + (V₉) * (w₉) + (V₁₀) * (w₁₀) +(V₁₁) * (w₁₁) + (V₁₂) * (w₁₂) + (V₁₃) * (W₁₃) + (C₃) * (w_(c3))]/[(w₆) +(w₇) + (w₈) + (w₉) + (w₁₀) + (w₁₁) + (w₁₂) + (w₁₃) + (w_(c3))] C₅Average of C₃ for selected pages C₆ [(C₁) * (w_(c1)) + (C₅) *(w_(c5))]/[(W_(c1)) + (w_(c5))] C₇ Average of V₁₇ for selected searchengines C₈ Average of C₇ for selected keywords

As shown in Table 2, combination C₁ is formed by dividing the sum ofweighted scored representations w₁V₁, w₄V₄ and w₅V₅ by the sum of thescored representations weights w₁, w₄ and w₅. One of skill in the artwill appreciated that combinations may be used as scored representationsin other combinations. For example, combinations C₁ and C₅ are used asscored representations in combination C₆, and combination C₃ is used asa scored representation in combination C₄. One of skill in the art willalso appreciate that combinations used as scored representations inother combinations may be weighted. For example, weight w_(c3) may beany negative or positive rational number (e.g., 5), weight w_(c1) may beany negative or positive rational number (e.g., 3), and weight w_(c5)may be any negative or positive rational number (e.g., 5).

One of skill in the art will recognize alternative combinations thanthose shown in Table 2. Additionally, one of skill in the art willappreciate that combinations may be configurable, via the UI module 293,in terms of scored representations, weights and mathematical operations.

User Interface (“UI”) Module

The UI module 293 receives filtering and customization parameters from auser, sends at least a portion of those parameters to the data retrievalmodule 291 and/or the reports module 292, receives one or more reportsfrom the reports module 292, and displays one or more visualrepresentations of the report(s) received from the reports module 292.The visual representations may be formed of alphanumerical, color-coded,graphical, image-based, or any other type of representation.

At least a portion of the filtering parameters received by the UI module293 define the scope of data collection by the data retrieval module 291and/or data retrieval by the reports generator 292. For example, theparameters may define the scope of data collection and/or data retrievalin terms of one or more instances or periods of time (e.g., date ranges,triggered events). Alternatively or additionally, the parameters maydefine the scope of data collection and/or data retrieval in terms ofthe types of data previously described with respect to the dataretrieval module 291.

At least a portion of the customization parameters define the report(s)generated by the reports module 292. The customization parameters allowa user to configure the visual representation of the generated reports.Customization parameters may include parameters similar to thosedescribed above with respect to the filtering parameters. Additionally,the customization parameters may include drill-down, online analyticalprocessing (OLAP), research and sorting parameters (e.g., ascending ordescending organization), as well as display parameters (e.g., numeric,color-coded, or video/image representation display parameters).

Attention is now drawn to FIGS. 4-6, which represent different userinterfaces that the UI module 293 may present to a user whenrepresenting client-pertinent metrics developed during the linear and/ornon-linear combinations described above with respect to the reportsmodule 292. FIG. 4 includes a table 400 that displays client-pertinentmetrics with respect to multiple sites. FIG. 5 displays a table 500 thatlists multiple sites and their rank with respect to multiple searchengines. FIG. 6 comprises multiple charts 600 that illustrateclient-pertinent metrics with respect to a single site (e.g., a siteselected from the multiple sites listed in FIG. 4 or FIG. 5).

One of skill in the art will appreciate alternative embodiments whereinall or a portion of the reports generated by the reports module 292 areaccessible by one or more computer systems/visual displays external tothe analysis system 140 (e.g., via triggered or automatic emailing orother methods within both the scope and spirit of the invention). One ofskill in the art will also appreciate alternative embodiments in whichthe reports module 292 develops one or more reports when triggeringevents occur (i.e., under preconfigured circumstances).

Client Architecture

Attention is now drawn to FIG. 7, which depicts an exemplaryimplementation of the client 130. As is shown, the client 130 includes aserver 131 connected to a database 133, both of which may communicateeither directly or indirectly with the communication network 110. FIG. 7also includes a computing device/system 739 configured in accordancewith one implementation of the invention. The computing device 739 mayinclude, but not by way of limitation, a personal computer (PC), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a cell phone, a television (TV), etc.,or any other device configured to send/receive data to/from thecommunication network 110, such as consumer electronic devices andhand-held devices.

The implementation depicted in FIG. 7 includes a processor 739 a coupledto ROM 739 b, input/output devices 739 c (e.g., a keyboard, mouse,etc.), a media drive 739 d (e.g., a disk drive, USB port, etc.), anetwork connection 739 e, a display 739 f, memory 739 g (e.g., randomaccess memory (RAM)), and a file storage device 739 h.

The storage device 739 h is described herein in several implementationsas a hard disk drive for convenience, but this is certainly notrequired, and one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that otherstorage media may be utilized without departing from the scope of theinvention. In addition, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognizethat the storage device 739 h, which is depicted for convenience as asingle storage device, may be realized by multiple (e.g., distributed)storage devices.

As shown, a software solution 741 includes a data retrieval module 741a, a reports generator module 741 b, a user interface module 741 c, allof which are implemented in software and are executed from the memory739 g by the processor 739 a. The software 741 can be configured tooperate on personal computers (e.g., handheld, notebook or desktop),servers or any device capable of processing instructions embodied inexecutable code. Moreover, one of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that alternative embodiments implementing one or morecomponents in hardware are within the scope of the invention. Eachmodule 741 a-c function similarly to modules 291, 292 and 293,respectively, of FIG. 2.

The exemplary systems and methods of the invention have been describedabove with respect to the analysis system 140 and/or the client 130. Oneof skill in the art will appreciate alternative embodiments wherein thefunctions of the analysis system 140 are performed on other devices inthe networked system 100.

Those skilled in the art can readily recognize that numerous variationsand substitutions may be made in the invention, its use and itsconfiguration to achieve substantially the same results as achieved bythe embodiments described herein. Accordingly, there is no intention tolimit the invention to the disclosed exemplary forms. Many variations,modifications and alternative constructions fall within the scope andspirit of the disclosed invention as expressed in the claims.

1. A method for optimizing a website in accordance with search engineresults, comprising: acquiring data associated with the website;generating a plurality of scored representations based upon the data;and combining the plurality of scored representations to achieve aresult; recommending, based on the result, a modification to a parameterof the website in order to improve an organic ranking of the websitewith respect to one or more search engines.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the combining comprises: generating a respective weight for eachof the plurality of scored representations; weighting each of theplurality of scored representations with their respective weights toachieve a plurality of weighted scored representations; summing theplurality of weighted scored representations to achieve an intermediateresult; and dividing the intermediate result by a sum of the respectiveweights to achieve the result.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thecombining comprises: combining a first plurality of scoredrepresentations to achieve a first result; combining a second pluralityof scored representations to achieve a second result, wherein the firstplurality of scored representations and the second plurality of scoredrepresentations are included in the plurality of scored representations;and averaging at least the first result and the second result to achievethe result.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data includes datarelated to content of the website for indexing by the one or more searchengines.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data includes datarelated to traffic of one or more visitors to the website.
 6. The methodof claim 2, wherein the data associated with the website includes dataderived from one or more of a search engine file, a web analytics file,and a website file.
 7. The method of claim 2, wherein the dataassociated with the website includes data selected from the groupconsisting of whether a sitemap link exists on the website's homepage,whether the website is listed in an Open Directory Project (DMOZ)directory, and whether the website is listed in a Yahoo! directory. 8.The method of claim 2, wherein the data associated with the websiteincludes data selected from the group consisting of whether a characterlength of a URL of the website exceeds a maximum URL character length,whether a webpage size of the website exceeds a maximum webpage size,whether flash navigation is used on the website, whether javascriptnavigation is used on the website, whether session identifiers are usedin the URL, and whether dynamic parameters are used in the URL.
 9. Themethod of claim 2, wherein the data associated with the website includesdata selected from the group consisting of whether a keyword exists in atitle tag of the website, whether the keyword exists in meta content ofthe website, whether the keyword exists in a header tag of the website,whether the keyword exists in a body tag of the website, and whether thekeyword exists in a URL of the website.
 10. The method of claim 2,wherein the data associated with the website includes data selected fromthe group consisting of whether a webpage associated with the websitehas inbound links from .edu domains, whether the webpage has inboundlinks from .gov domains, whether the webpage has inbound links fromsocial networks, whether the webpage has inbound links from blogs,whether the webpage has inbound links from wikis, and whether thewebsite has internal links to the webpage.
 11. The method of claim 2,wherein the data associated with the website includes datarepresentative of whether keywords are included in the website inaccordance with a density threshold.
 12. The method of claim 1, whereinthe recommending a modification to a parameter of the website includesrecommending an increase of a number of inbound links of the website,recommending a decrease of a length of a URL of the website,recommending a decrease of a webpage size, recommending a removal ofdynamic parameters from the URL, recommending a removal of flashnavigation from the website, or recommending a removal of JavaScriptnavigation from the website.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein therecommending a modification to a parameter of the website includesrecommending a use of a keyword in a title tag of the website,recommending a use of the keyword in meta content of the website,recommending a use of the keyword in a header tag of the website,recommending a use of the keyword in a body tag of the website, orrecommending a use of the keyword in a URL of the website.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the recommending a modification to aparameter of the website includes recommending a use of a keyword in thewebsite that exceeds a density threshold.
 15. The method of claim 3,wherein the first result pertains to a first search engine and thesecond result pertains to a second search engine.
 16. The method ofclaim 3, wherein the first result pertains to a first keyword and thesecond result pertains to a second keyword.
 17. The method of claim 3,wherein the first result pertains to a first webpage of the website andthe second result pertains to a second webpage of the website.
 18. Themethod of claim 3, wherein the data is further associated with a secondwebsite, and wherein the first search result pertains to the website andthe second search result pertains to the second website.
 19. A systemfor optimizing a website in accordance with search engine results,comprising: at least one processor; a network interface for receivingdata from at least data source; a memory, operatively coupled to theprocessor for storing logical instructions wherein execution of thelogical instructions by the processor results in the performing of atleast the following operations: acquiring data associated with thewebsite; generating a plurality of scored representations based upon thedata; and combining the plurality of scored representations to achieve aresult; recommending, based on the result, a modification to a parameterof the website in order to improve an organic ranking of the websitewith respect to one or more search engines.
 20. The system of claim 19,wherein the combining comprises: generating a respective weight for eachof the plurality of scored representations; weighting each of theplurality of scored representations with their respective weights toachieve a plurality of weighted scored representations; summing theplurality of weighted scored representations to achieve an intermediateresult; and dividing the intermediate result by a sum of the respectiveweights to achieve the result.
 21. The system of claim 19, wherein thecombining comprises: combining a first plurality of scoredrepresentations to achieve a first result; combining a second pluralityof scored representations to achieve a second result, wherein the firstplurality of scored representations and the second plurality of scoredrepresentations are included in the plurality of scored representations;and averaging at least the first result and the second result to achievethe result.
 22. The system of claim 19, wherein the data includes datarelated to content of the website for indexing by the one or more searchengines.
 23. The system of claim 19, wherein the data includes datarelated to traffic of one or more visitors to the website.
 24. Thesystem of claim 20, wherein the data associated with the websiteincludes data derived from one or more of a search engine file, a webanalytics file, and a website file.
 25. The system of claim 20, whereinthe data associated with the website includes data selected from thegroup consisting of whether a sitemap link exists on the website'shomepage, whether the website is listed in an Open Directory Project(DMOZ) directory, whether the website is listed in a Yahoo! directory,whether a character length of a URL of the website exceeds a maximum URLcharacter length, whether a webpage size of the website exceeds amaximum webpage size, whether flash navigation is used on the website,whether javascript navigation is used on the website, whether sessionidentifiers are used in the URL, whether dynamic parameters are used inthe URL, whether a keyword exists in a title tag of the website, whetherthe keyword exists in meta content of the website, whether the keywordexists in a header tag of the website, whether the keyword exists in abody tag of the website, whether the keyword exists in a URL of thewebsite, whether a webpage associated with the website has inbound linksfrom .edu domains, whether the webpage has inbound links from .govdomains, whether the webpage has inbound links from social networks,whether the webpage has inbound links from blogs, whether the webpagehas inbound links from wikis, whether the website has internal links tothe webpage, and whether keywords are included in the website inaccordance with a density threshold.
 26. The system of claim 19, whereinthe recommending a modification to a parameter of the website includesrecommending an increase of a number of inbound links of the website,recommending a decrease of a length of a URL of the website,recommending a decrease of a webpage size, recommending a removal ofdynamic parameters from the URL, recommending a removal of flashnavigation from the website, recommending a removal of JavaScriptnavigation from the website, recommending a use of a keyword in a titletag of the website, recommending a use of the keyword in meta content ofthe website, recommending a use of the keyword in a header tag of thewebsite, recommending a use of the keyword in a body tag of the website,recommending a use of the keyword in a URL of the website, orrecommending a use of a keyword in the website that exceeds a densitythreshold.
 27. The system of claim 21, wherein the first result pertainsto a first search engine and the second result pertains to a secondsearch engine, or the first result pertains to a first keyword and thesecond result pertains to a second keyword, or the first result pertainsto a first webpage of the website and the second result pertains to asecond webpage of the website.
 28. The system of claim 21, wherein thedata is further associated with a second website, and wherein the firstsearch result pertains to the website and the second search resultpertains to the second website.